What do you like to see in a Fan Game?

I'm making a Mario Fan Game right now, but i want to be sure it has the biggest mass appeal, so what do like/want to see in fan games?
--My engine is custom, and quite differant from the normal sma smb3 ect engines.
--Various gimmicks involving the mouse
--Midis are hand picked, then edited, so you won't hear the same old things here.

So what other stuff should there be?

stuff that you dont see in other games, like new power-ups and stuff

new power-ups, new gameplay ideas, original plots if you have a story.

But I can't really tell what makes a fangame good, if I could, I'd get only 10/10 reviews.

Powerups seems to be liked, so that seems likely for a next step, and as for things you haven't seen... one of the games biggest mechanics is highly original, and adds a new level of strategy to a game, also there are certain bosses that you gain abilities from other Mario games from.
As for the plot, I can't reveal it, but it's very differant from the 'Yet again Bowser has captured the Princess' thing
Thanks for the input!

if you can pull it off: netplay

What makes a fangame good is originality

Have fun with the game :D

Pretty much this

But what kind of aspects really? For example I'm breaking the usual Boss mold with unique bosses, like King Boo, he's surrounded by Boos, you have to hit him somewhere thats not protected, once inside you can use the Detonator it swallowed, by lighting it with the Fire Flower, to damage it.
Pretty much i've been looking at MFFGs comments, and seeing what most people like or don't like in Fangames, first and foremost was clones. This topic is in hopes of people actually telling me.

Well, let's see -- you've got two of them nailed already:

(1) Custom engine, and
(2) Hand-picked MIDIs -- then edited.

Good starting points. And make sure that players interact well with the characters you choose in lead-role territory (and not to mention that those same characters support you too! :P).

You can't. For the amount of people who like the game, there will be a similar amount of people who dislike it.

Looking at the Main Site, though, and some of the comments, you probably won't have much of a problem; there seems to be a lot of "Great games lolz" comments on games I wouldn't consider touching ever again. Then again, that's just me, and I've been told my opinions suck more than one time.

Anyway, I'd just have fun with the game. It doesn't matter how many people liked it as long as you had fun making it and you enjoy it yourself.

I'll check out your little list, though.

This, actually, is quite impressive. I am amazed at how many people recently have used the Hello engine and variations thereof. It's nice to see somebody doing something original. And hopefully, different means good.

A recent game I played that involved gimmicks with the mouse broke the flow of gameplay so bad that I ended up abandoning the gimmick in a corner of the screen.

If this will be in active "move around and jomp" gameplay then I do not reccommend it.

Well, of course the MIDIs are hand picked.

Editing them, well, to be honest, I'd really have to hear them first. Also, I'm not sure some people like the idea of other people editing their sequences, so, uh, I'd hope you've gotten prior permission.

But, it is nice to not hear the same ol' same ol'. I wish I could sequence so I could have my games not use the same ol' same ol'.

As the quote name says, I was planning something like this as well.

Well, we'll just have to see how different our ideas happen to be in practice.

Good luck on your game, anyway.

replay value

Thats the first thing I thought of when I thought of using the mouse, everything mouse realted i attempt to make smooth, the main use of the mouse for example will mostly be used after beating all the enemies around, so there'll be little or no jumping. The Gimmicks are mostly for puzzles, but skilled players can use it to get 1UPs, find secrets, beat enemies and more.
What I mean by hand picked is instead of choosing the first, generic overworld midi, I go for more obscure, but still good peices, that or make the classics new again :P
I'm pretty sure our ideas will come out very very differant.
I mean lergest mass appeal possible, so if I have enough things that lots of differant people like it, I've got a large mass appeal.
Interaction is in the works, gotta make that good too!
Thanks everybody.

Alright, well, it actually looks like you've planned this out quite a bit. That's a good sign of this getting finished.

Looking forward to what you come up with!

I always like to see originality in fangames. This usually means that the game has a theme centered around it. Like Mario Galaxy had space and gravity and Mario Sunshine had tropical islands and FLOOD, they both had gimmicks and they both had (somewhat) original stories and original settings.

If you don't try to make an original game you run the risk of yours looking like another cookie-cutter Mario game that won't attract people.

I like to see everything in a fangame, that I would in an official game.
But what I love the most are alternate endings ♥

I would like to see 3d graphics.

3D graphics are a no, there's not enough, customs are hard to make, and they're a pain to implement.
Alternate endings I never actually considered, but I like the idea, I might just do that.

I really don't mind graphics, long as the game is good and has original concepts behind it.(Even though I do tend to stay away from SM3 looking fan-games, but I still give them a shot) Actually, SM3 sprites are Perfect, BUT, PLEASE don't use the same SM3 backgrounds/tileset. I mean there's a large variety of backgrounds that can easily fit into a mario game.

What I do want to see:
-Good storyline. Atleast, other then trying to defeat bowser for the 100th time, as if nintendo hasn't done that already.
-Cutscenes. yes, I love cutscenes.
-Gimmicks. so every level isnt the same but with different backgrounds.
-Good music. Try to go for remixes, or just plain ol' different midi's/mp3's you can find that fits your stage. I don't know why people use the SAME FREAKING mario midi tunes for their stages. I mean, I think picking music for your stage is probably the most fun part. I like having that jam going when I play mah levels
-Decent title. well, by decent, I mean don't make it sound like a generic game. it gives people the wrong impression and can sway some away. ie, mario quest 4 mushrooms or something.

This post has been edited by kirbyhi5 on Jun 4 2008, 12:31 PM

ENDORSE

The pending Title is Super Mario: Legend of he Splitstar.
The story is unique, not incredibly unique, you still face Bowser and rescue Peach, but more in depth then the average Mario game I see.
You'll be pleasently suprised, there are quite a few Cutscenes planned, with many on the way, cutscenes after levels, bosses, in the middle of levels, before levels, in the Hub, I Love cutscenes.
And picking music is probably my favourite part as well, so that should be good too